Pride Timeline 2020-present
“2020
The Edmonton Pride Festival Society (EPFS) ceases operation. Pride is cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of provincial health restrictions, no public Pride events are held in an effort to help stop the spread of the virus.
To respond to community needs, some Stonewall and Pride events go virtual. Inaugural virtual events included the IndigiQueer Gayla 2020 created by the Edmonton 2 Spirit Society (E2S) with the Calgary Pride Festival and RaricaNow’s Edmonton Stonewall Black Trans Lives Matter march and rally. Fruitloop also broadcasted performances from the Starlite Room for a special “Pride at Home” event. Edmonton’s High Level Bridge was also lit up in rainbow colours.”
“2021
Once again, there are no in-person Pride festivities due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. To help keep the spirit of Pride alive, Fruitloop developed a virtual, augmented reality Pride tour, which is “designed to educate and entertain.” Using a mobile device with a virtual map, individuals can travel to 10 locations in downtown that “showcase [Edmonton’s] diverse community’s past, present, and future.” Each stop on the tour includes videos of over 50 drag performances and speakers that discuss the significance and importance of the location to Edmonton’s queer history. The tour opens at Beaver Hills Park ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ (Amiskwacîwâskahikan) with a land acknowledgement and cultural performance by Edmonton 2 Spirit Society (E2S). Some other locations include Evolution Wonderlounge, Michael Phair Park, the old Flashback and Roost locations, and the Neon Sign Museum. Fruitloop’s virtual tour garners over 100,000 + social media impressions.
The Pride Centre of Edmonton also hosts virtual Pride events, including a virtual queer prom and printmaking workshop with The Society of Northern Alberta Print-Artists (SNAP). RaricaNow also hosted an online Stonewall event: The International Stonewall Symposium, featuring local and international speakers, a healing circle, and performances by BIPOC2SLGBTQ+ artists.”
“2022
After two years without many in-person Pride events (due to pandemic restrictions), several small and diverse activities were hosted in 2022. Billed as the “Ruby Red Celebration” to mark the 40th anniversary of the first community Pride Weekend in Edmonton held in 1982, this year’s festival took place over June, July, and August.
In the wake of the dissolution of the Edmonton Pride Festival Society in 2020, two new organizations formed: Capital Pride and Edmonton Pride Fest. Capital Pride kicked off the month of June with ceremonies and speakers at City Hall, with a special focus on QTBIPOC community members. Pride Fest focussed its energies on organizing a two-day event to end the month of June, returning to Churchill Square for an entertainment garden that included acts like Virginia 2 Vegas and Fefe Dobson. Local 2SLGBTQ+ non-profits and vendors were also on-site at the Square, with an afternoon of local entertainment following a pancake breakfast hosted by Capital Pride.
Other community and non-profit groups provided programming throughout June, including a three-day family-friendly event at the Grindstone hosted by Fruit Loop, a beer garden and dance party on 104 Street, and a drag queen ballgame at Remax Field, featuring Party Queens and the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose. The latter wasn’t the year’s only foray into Pride athletics though – with the Edmonton Oil Kings, Edmonton Stingers, Edmonton Riverhawks, and yes, even the Edmonton Oilers, all hosting pride events over the summer months. The last included the inaugural Pride Cup, a Battle of Alberta for inclusive hockey with the Calgary Pioneers squaring off against the Edmonton Rage in the Edmonton Ice District Plaza.
Surrounding communities in St. Albert, Fort Saskatchewan, and Strathcona County all hosted their own colourful Pride events as well. Inclusive faith services, a queer choral event hosted by Edmonton Vocal Minority, Edmonton Queer History Project summer walking and bus tours, and multiple drag brunches all over the city helped make this first “post-Covid” Pride a special summer to remember. An expanded Pride Day at K-days in late July helped keep the celebrations going well into the summer.
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“2023
By June of 2023, the pandemic was feeling pretty far behind us. Capital Pride, one of the groups that rose up during the COVID years, had already stopped planning events, but Edmonton Pride Fest was still going. They opted to move their big event to August, but the other community groups and businesses in the city were still planning to celebrate Pride Month in June. This created a Summer of Pride for our city, with three months of programming!
Over 100 events were submitted in 2023 to PrideEdmonton.ca, including some new and notable ones. Edmonton’s first Drag Festival, a full day of drag performances at Louise McKinney Park; the weather didn’t cooperate but that didn’t stop dozens of local and celebrity drag performers from entertaining their wet audience! MacEwan University’s Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity held their first patio party that included a BBQ and drag queen bingo. Evolution Wonderlounge hosted a Riverboat party in late August to end the summer. Some favorite parties returned for a second year, including Drag Me Out to the Ballgame, a collaboration between the ISCWR and Party Queens that raised over $30,000 for their chosen charity partners, and the Pride Cup in partnership with the Oilers Entertainment Group (congrats to the Calgary Pioneers who beat the Edmonton Rage!).
Mid-summer, Pride Day at K-Days expanded again, with ten full days of 2SLGBTQ+ programming, including drag acts, DJs, and live musicians. The fair hosted their first drag brunch, Empress 1 Millicent’s Brunch Royale, in support of the ISCWR, celebrating our queer history by acknowledging Edmonton’s first drag empress. And K-days wasn’t the only festival that got queered up. Even the Taste of Edmonton incorporated a drag production on their main stage!
Pride Fest anchored the celebrations in August with three nights of programming at Churchill Square, including Alberta’s first 2-Spirit Pow-Wow and a 90s Night featuring music acts like Snap!, Love Inc., and Prozzak. Pride was back downtown and in the heart of the city!
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“2024
The Summer of Pride returned to Alberta’s Capital City with another three months of spectacular community programming. In its second year, Edmonton Drag Festival relocated to Churchill Square and grew to three days, which included hosting a 2spirit pow-wow and drag brunch, expanding the celebration of the art of drag. Fruit Loop also helped to kick off celebrations in June with another Pride Street Fair at Grindstone.
Queer history was featured and celebrated all summer long with free walking and bus tours hosted by the Edmonton Queer History Project, as well as the delightful Len & Cub Photo Exhibit presented by the MacEwan Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity, plus a new exhibition at Fort Edmonton Park entitled “Regulating Morality,” which highlighted 100 years of Edmonton’s 2SLGBTQ+ history. The Summer of Pride also featured two local documentary films, Pride vs Prejudice: The Delwin Vriend Story and Flashback.
This year, a lot of Edmonton’s favourite Pride events returned. June included the third annual Drag Me To The Ballgame, which raised over $30,000 in support of the ISCWR’s John M Kerr Memorial Bursary and Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society. The Riverhawks held their annual “Strike Out Hate” Pride Night with record attendance of over 5,000 fans. August included the third Annual Pride Cup, where Calgary beat Edmonton for the second year in a row at the Battle of Alberta. Pride Night at KDays was bigger than ever, with some epic special guests, including Naomi Smalls and Bosco from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Drag returned to Taste of Edmonton with Legends of Drag, who are also bringing their iconic drag excellence to the YEG Xmas Market for the second time, proving that pride in Edmonton truly happens all year long. And to end the summer, Pride Fest returned to Churchill Square in late August for three days of festivities.
Now in its sixth year without a parade, Edmonton held a community engagement meeting to discuss whether the time was right for the return of the Pride parade. Although the meeting highlighted the shared importance of a parade, especially for queer and trans kids and at a time when anti-2SLGBTQ+ legislation is coming down the pipeline from Alberta’s UCP government, consensus on how the parade should look or be run could not be achieved. In a year when parades in other cities like Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver were also disrupted by conversations around corporate sponsorship, police participation, and the war in Gaza, we were all reminded that pride has its roots in protest and that it remains a protest in 2024.
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